1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brackets for mounting shelves to supporting vertical surfaces. The novel bracket finds utility in applications wherein adjustment is required in positioning a shelf relative to the vertical surfaces. Thus the invention is useful to furniture manufactures and to craftsmen and others installing shelves in furniture and directly to walls and the like in buildings and vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is frequently desired to mount one or more horizontal shelves to vertical supporting surfaces. When the vertical supporting surface is pre-existing, it is further frequently desirable to position each shelf at a particular location relative to the vertical surfaces. Illustratively, the shelves may be required to be spaced apart vertically from one another by a predetermined distance. When constructing furniture having transparent windows, it becomes strongly desirable for esthetic reasons to align shelves with mullions and frame elements for each window pane.
This may require adjustment of position of brackets intended to support the shelves. This adjustment may require, for example, location of screws or corresponding fasteners very precisely. It would be most helpful to craftsmen assembling the shelves to have the widest possible latitude in locating screws relative to the bracket, so that there are a maximal number of screw positions available when the bracket is located at one point relative to the vertical surface to which it is to be attached.
Such brackets are generally L-shaped. One leg of the L contacts against the vertical supporting surface and has one or more holes to accept a fastener which pins the bracket to the supporting surface. The other leg projects at a right angle to provide a platform on which the shelf is placed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,120, issued to Michael E. Patrick on Apr. 13, 1993, illustrates a bracket wherein the leg which contacts the vertical surface has short projections extending beyond the horizontally projecting leg. The present invention differs from the bracket of Patrick in that the horizontally projecting leg in the present invention has a much broader head than those of Patrick. This feature provides superior support surface and stability to a shelf being supported. Also, only one member need be bent during fabrication at a right angle from the original flat configuration of the stock material. Other features are that whereas Patrick has sharp corners, the ends of the short projections and of both vertical and horizontal legs in the present invention are rounded. This feature reduces likelihood of injury during assembly and when reaching into the finished furniture to insert and remove articles being displayed and stored. In a further departure from Patrick, fastener holes are arranged closely spaced apart. Very fine adjustment of position is made possible by close spacing.
L-shaped brackets are also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,545,016, issued to Albert L. Sessions on Jul. 7, 1925, 2,570,731, issued to Saul H. Susnow on Oct. 9, 1951, and 3,459,396, issued to Albert T. Buttriss on Aug. 5, 1969. In each case, the subject bracket lacks projections of the vertical leg extending beyond the horizontal leg. This feature steadies the bracket by altering the fulcrum which may be said to exist when weight imposed on the bracket would tend to cause the bracket to pivot such that the vertical leg would pivot away from contact with the vertical supporting surface. Susnow includes an elongated hole for receiving a fastener. However, this differs from the present invention in that should a fastener become loose, the bracket could drop relative to that fastener. By contrast, in the present invention, such movement is precluded by interference between the fastener hole or holes and the fastener.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.